Frequently Asked Questions About Spinal Cord Injuries
Baker & Abraham, P.C. helps spinal cord injury victims and their families by providing answers to commonly asked questions. Please feel free to contact our Boston injury firm for additional helpful information.
- What is a spinal cord injury?
- Is there more than one type of spinal cord injury?
- What are spinal cord injury symptoms?
- What are the causes of spinal cord injuries?
- Who is most susceptible to a spinal cord injury?
We change our clients’ lives
To see the difference two exceptional injury attorneys can make in your case, contact Baker & Abraham in Boston for a free initial consultation. If we take your case, you will pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Serving all of Massachusetts, including—
|
|
A spinal cord injury is damage of any kind to the spinal cord, which is the bundle of nerves that runs from the base of the brain down the middle of the back. A spinal cord injury can also be any damage to the blocks of bone (called vertebrae) or the cushion in between the blocks of bone (called intervertebral discs). A spinal cord injury often results in paralysis or a loss of function or mobility. Damage to one or more of the many vertebrae that protect the spinal cord can, but does not always, cause a spinal cord injury.
Is there more than one type of spinal cord injury?
There are many types of spinal cord injuries. There are complete and partial injuries to the spinal cord itself. A complete spinal cord injury results in loss of function below the point of injury, and usually affects both sides of the body. This can result in quadriplegia—paralysis of all four limbs—or paraplegia—paralysis of the lower half of the body.
Partial spinal cord injuries do not always affect both sides of the body equally. Besides complete and partial spinal cord injuries, there may be fractures to the bony blocks that protect the spinal cord (vertebra). Common types of fractures are burst fractures and compression fractures.
In addition to possible injuries to the spinal cord or the bony blocks, the cartilage between the blocks (intervertebral disc) may be injured in a process called herniation. A herniation occurs when the hard outer shell (annulus fibrosis) of the disc tears, resulting in the soft center of the disc (the nucleus pulposus) oozing into the spinal canal. People with herniated discs generally feel numbness or tingling somewhere on their arm or leg, depending on the region of the spine in which the herniation is located.
Back to Top
What are spinal cord injury symptoms?
In addition to paralysis, people with spinal cord injuries may also suffer bowel or bladder complications, or have difficulty breathing to the point of requiring a respirator. SCI sufferers are also more prone to respiratory disease. Low blood pressure, irregular blood pressure, reduced control of body temperature, and chronic pain are also symptoms of SCI.
What are the causes of spinal cord injuries?
About 12,000 new spinal cord injuries are reported each year, according to a 2009 report by the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. More than 42 percent of SCI cases are caused by motor vehicle accidents. Falls are the second leading cause. Violence, particularly gunshot wounds, and sports injuries make up most of the remainder of SCI cases.
Who is most susceptible to a spinal cord injury?
Overwhelmingly, men suffer the most cases of SCI, about 80 percent. SCI victims average 40 years of age.
